Wednesday, May 06, 2009

International No Diet Day

There is this belief that if we are thin we are healthy. Health, that slippery concept, is really not the biggest issue for most fat people...it's stigma.

This past week, another study came out about how health professionals (this time dietetic students) are biased against fat people. This gets added to a huge list of other fat-phobic folks: doctor's, nurses, therapists, employers - hell, even other fat people.

In a comment section on an opinion piece regarding the recent decision of United, one commenter summed up the level of vitriol fat folks are routinely subjected to: "It's hard enough having to look at you..." This is not about anyone's legitimate concern for their fellow human, this is hate pure and simple.

We diet, in this country, because we are afraid of "teh fats." There are always other reasons to tack on, but it often comes down to this. Then we learn to hate ourselves because our bodies (in their infinite wisdom) are incredibly efficient at staving off famine, and 95% of people who have initial success at weight loss end up gaining it all back.

Today, take a minute to stop hating the fat on your body (I don't care how much you have or where it is). Feel hunger and feed it. Move around in your body to find out what makes it feel good. Make a decision today to just accept who you are.

1 comment:

Thank you so much for posting this. I work in a heavily female industry and I hear about the girls I work with dieting all the time. Most of them are smaller than me and don't need it. I find myself really upset a every time some 115 pound girl in my store starts talking about how she's dieting. I think its so sad to witness the tragic skewed views that most women have of their bodies. As a person who battles anorexia and managed to oversome it, I feel its terrible important to be able to look at yourself in the mirror and see something beautiful. I can do that now, I wish more people could.

Bravo Spinny. Who needs a diet? Love yourself the way you are. That's the first step to being truly healthy